Three lawyers representing an ex-Homeland Security official apologized to a California federal judge after one of the attorneys used Anthropic’s AI platform Claude Console to write a motion that included “phantom” quotations.
The incident—which came in a sprawling lawsuit over the Trump administration’s mass layoffs within the federal government—adds to a growing list of attorney misuse of artificial intelligence in legal practice, with some facing sanctions.
Partner Jason Greaves of Binnall Law Group PLLC told Judge Susan Illston of the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday that he used Claude to draft a motion to quash a subpoena because of “tight time constraints.”
The court was seeking to depose Joseph Guy, former deputy chief of staff at DHS under Kristi Noem, over layoffs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Greaves, who filed the May 6 motion, told Illston in a declaration that he sent the AI-drafted document to an associate for fact-checking.
“While I reviewed the cited cases generally to confirm their applicability, as well as many other cases that I reviewed, I did not double check the quotations and obviously did not read the cited cases carefully,” Greaves wrote. “While the cases cited may have generally supported our position, I acknowledge the inexcusable error of allowing the inclusion of phantom quotations.”
Greaves said this was the first time he had used an AI platform to create a draft a brief.
Founding partner Jesse Binnall and partner Lindsay McKasson, who is part of Guy’s legal team, also filed declarations apologizing to the court.
Binnall said the firm has established AI use policies and will implement additional training on verifying documents and citations.
“We understand the gravity of what occurred, and we share the Court’s concern,” Binnall wrote. “The obligation to submit accurate, verified citations is not merely a technical rule—it is a fundamental duty that every attorney owes to every court. We failed that duty in this instance, and we are committed to ensuring it does not happen again. Ever.”
Binnall Law didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case is AFGE v. Trump, N.D. Cal., No. 3:25-cv-03698, 5/15/26.
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